Iris
by lastanca
Summary: What happens when a young rouge vampire comes to settle with the Cullens, only to find herself fall for the most unlikely member of the family? An epic tale to follow...rated, um highest rating, just in case! Oy Vey!
1. Call Me the Seeker

**Chapter One: Call Me the Seeker**

I am not happy.

In fact, I am cold, wet, and dead. Not the best combination of adjectives on earth, but hey, for me, it was a good day. I was almost home.

Well, technically it wasn't my home, _yet_, but assuming that the Cullens would have gladly taken me in, I convinced the nomadic group that I was 'backpacking' with that I would be more than happy to have me, Iris, as another adopted daughter. But now, walking on the main street in Forks, WA, I started to get another one of my creepy feelings that something was up. There couldn't have been an accident nearby, I would have sensed it. Something was definitely suspicious though, so I walked twice my normal human speed to get into the coverage of the nearby forest.

I paused slightly to zip up my hoodie to its fullest, and only then did I hear the guttural growling of an animal behind me. Usually my diet mainly consisted of humans, but I had not eaten in a while in order to keep my cover on the streets, however, I considered eating this animal just for the heck of it. I turned around, and for the first time in my existence, I was the one who felt threatened. In front of me, less than three feet away, was a giant wolf.

Common sense told me to run, get away from it as far as possible, but instead, I stood perfectly still. I froze the expression of shock on my face, and then fell over, stiff as a board. Grinning to myself in my mind, I knew I was out of trouble because of my 'opossum' tactic, something I used to lure in humans in dark alleyways and such when I was hunting. But my glee turned to panic when I heard voices right in front of me say,

"What's it doing?"

"I don't know, are you sure it was a leech?"

"Yeah, it certainly stank like one, but I never got a good look at its eyes…do you think it's a Cullen?"

"I highly doubt it; we'd have seen it before."

"Well, um, ok….so, what do we do with it?"

"I…um, I guess we could take it back to Sam…you know, just in case?"

"Yeah, that's a good plan, hold on, and let me get my shoes…"

I opened my eyes, just enough to see two human teenage boys looking down at the ground in front of them. I quickly hopped up into a crouch, and said, "They're over there by that evergreen."

The boys whipped around, and looks of defiance and horror took over their faces, while I laughed lightheartedly and leapt into one of the low-hanging branches of a nearby tree. The boys looked on in shock as I perched on the tree standing on the tips of my toes, and then settled down comfortably. I patiently waited while they collected themselves enough to speak. After several minutes of this dumbfounded attitude, I said, "So…you guys come here often?"

That seemed to break the spell. They boys instantly turned cruel. "Shut up leech! Come down from there!" I happily obliged and swung down from my roost, only to have one of the boys attempt to shove me up against a tree. I quickly struck him lightly and sent him staggering.

"Now now, let's not fight, I come in peace," I tried to reassure them, but they decided to give me a round of the Spanish inquisition. It went something like this:

"Enough, leech! What's your business here?"

"Why do you care? And why did you choose right now to go frolicking through the forest? Unwise choice."

"I'm asking the questions here! Who are you?"

"Iris Hélène Papaleonardus, aged permanently 15, 5'6", eye color: burgundy-scarlet, hair color: deep chestnut, and I like long walks on the beach and romantic nights in."

"Okay…what's your business?"

"I seek the Cullens. Perhaps you know them?"

"Why do you seek the Cullens?"

At this I was hesitant. I decided to distract them and make a run for it. I gasped and pointed behind their shoulders, and when they turned, took off. I was already five miles away when they realized I was gone. I could hear their growls of fury, and I laughed.

I finally made it to a large clearing, only to realize it was the Cullen's front yard. I took a deep, unnecessary breath, and skipped up to the front of the house. I paused for a second before I knocked on the door, trying to think of what I would say, but someone had already opened it from the inside. When the door opened wide, I saw a woman with a heart-shaped face and interesting golden eyes. At first I doubted that I hadn't reached a vampire coven, instead some poor lady's house, but then I realized that no human could ever have eyes that color. She looked me over, most likely taking in my wet, dank clothes and bloodstained hoodie before she uttered a friendly, "Hello, may I help you?"

I smiled up at her and said, "Hi, my name is Iris, and I was wondering if the Cullens live here? If not, then could you tell me where?"

The woman smiled and said, "Yes, I'm Esme Cullen, please, sweetheart, come in."

Victory!


	2. Cullens

Esme closed the door behind me, and bustled off to the house's kitchen. I warily followed her, not really sure what exactly she was doing in there, but hoped she wasn't gathering the butcher knives so she rip me to shreds. To my surprise, she had retrieved from the fridge different bags of human blood. Hmmm. This seemed a little strange to me, until she glanced back, saw me wearing a puzzled expression, and said, "We keep this for times when we become thirsty, but aren't able to hunt. Would you like some?"

I was touched by the thought. Like I had said, I hadn't eaten in a while, and the idea made me happy. "Please!" I exclaimed, bustling foreword to help in any way possible. "What type would you prefer?" Esme asked again, while lithely jumping onto the counter to reach mugs that were almost never used in the back of the cupboard. "AB positive, if that's ok," I replied. "Of course!" Esme said, and turned around to look at me kindly. "Please, go sit down and make yourself comfortable while I whip this up." I smiled at her and walked into the den.

My bare feet padded across the floor, and the sweet and soft texture of the rug that lay spread in the middle of the floor was like heaven to my rough and stone feet. Looking up, I noticed with surprise that the room was light and airy, nothing you would have expected from a coven. Then, catching sight of the expensive-looking flat screen television, the touch computer monitor, and the designer furniture, I became extremely suspicious. How could a coven as large as this live undetected and in this sort of opulence? Afraid of getting dirt on the clean white sofa, I roamed around for a while until I found a bathroom.

I spent a little more time than usual getting cleaned up, because I hadn't experienced soap since, well, five months ago. I was appalled at my appearance, and quickly used some of the makeup lying around to at least make myself seem presentable. Once I deemed myself acceptable, I walked out into the main room, to find Esme sitting comfortably, with a large soup bowl of blood. The warm aroma filled the room, and I tried my hardest not to scarf it down like a savage, but sip it politely. Esme made an apathetic face and said, "You don't have to have manners around me, sweetheart. Go ahead and eat if you're hungry!" With her blessing, I quickly drained the bowl. She smiled and set it aside on the table. I wiped my face and smiled at her. "Thank you," I said. "It has been a while since I had last eaten, because I wanted to keep my composure on the street, but you have been very kind to me. I am eternally obliged."

"Don you worry, that's what we are here for. Every now and then, we get visitors and need to have things like this around for entertainment, or otherwise." At this she laughed, and I smiled. I felt very at ease with Esme, which was a first. She almost had a motherly aura around her, and I felt that I could trust her. She hesitated, as if almost afraid to ask me something, but then apparently decided against it. "So, Iris, what brings you to Forks?"

Before I could answer, the door burst open, and peals of laughter drifted in from the outside. Startled, I ran away and hid in the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I could hear others come in, and the auras I was getting off of them were too complicated and overwhelming to decipher at first, but I could detect at least two females, and four males. I listened at the door while an interesting conversation took place:

"…And then I told her…oh, hey Mom! What's…" The voice trailed off as I could sense that they caught sight of the empty bowl of blood.

"Esme! You didn't! Why would you…" Another voice, the one I could detect was the authority, came out surprised. As if drinking blood was surprising? I was confused.

"Carlisle, kids," Esme said, in a calming voice, "We have a visitor."

Silence.

"Oh, yes, we do…I wonder why I didn't see it coming?" said one of the females. She had a lilting voice, very high pitched and sweet. Her voice herself made me happy, but her aura was one of self-doubt.

"Esme, are you insane? You let a 'visitor' come into our home, without thinking of Bella? Without thinking of the danger or _damage _this could bring to her? Argh!" This voice was haughty, almost know-it-all, yet very appealing and concerned. I hated him, but liked him at the same time.

"Well, maybe she would like to come out?" inquired the second female's voice. I could tell that she was proud and had a deeper voice, almost seductive, than the fairy-girl.

"I think she would. Iris, please come out and meet the rest of the family?" Esme inquired. I shook with fear and doubted myself.

"Um, in a minute!" I trilled, and paced around for a while. I wasn't sure if they would hurt me or not, but I was a vampire, dammed, and I could take on anything. At least that's what I told myself. Checking my appearance one more time in the mirror, I cracked the door open and peeked out. I saw a mass of people, and my face probably gave away my fear, because another male, who had pale blonde hair, spoke. "Don't be freaked out," he said. "We're all right." Immediately I stepped out with a wave of calm, and faced them on. They all scrutinized me for a moment, and then smiled kindly, all except for the boy with the bronze hair, who I recognized, spoke ill of me before. I smiled fully, and the pixie girl skipped foreword and gave me a huge hug. I couldn't help but hug her back, and she uttered the happiest words I had heard in a while.

"Welcome to the family, Iris!"


	3. Summer of '68

**I want to take some time first before I start chapter three to say thank you to the kind readers who have taken the time to review this story. Please, keep critiquing and if you have any ideas about where this story should go, I'd be glad to hear them!**

Tentatively, I hugged this mysterious girl back, wondering why she was welcoming me to the family and how she knew my name, when it was clearly obvious that I was still an undecided issue among the group. But at these words, I noticed a mixture of emotions pass through the group, drastically changing their auras from exuberant, from the pixie girl who was hugging me, to livid, from the angry yet attractive boy who defended a girl named Bella. I finally broke the hug and jumped back a little, still taken aback by the displays of emotion and all of these unknown people. Sensing my uncomfortable state, Esme quickly put an arm around my shoulders and said, "Iris, this is my family. Please, tell us why you are here and your story."

"Okay," I said a little louder, regaining my composure. I sat down in my previous spot and the family gathered around me. Esme seemed to remember something, and instantly snapped to attention. "Oh my goodness, excuse me, I forgot introductions! Iris, this is my husband Carlisle, he's a doctor at the nearby hospital," She pointed to the authority, a kind-faced man with blonde hair, and "My sons Emmett," a burly, happy guy who occasionally smiled at me, "Edward," this was the bronze haired boy, who glared at me, "and Jasper." This boy had not spoken yet, but as I looked at him, I immediately felt a sense of calm wash over me. I knew exactly what he was, and what he was trying to do, so I reversed the emotion and sent panic back at him. He became startled, probably not from just the panic, and looked at me with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. I smiled and laughed a little. But for some reason, he felt strangely familiar. I shook the feeling, knowing he couldn't possibly…

Esme totally missed this reaction, as she was still introducing the gang. "And these," she said with pride, "Are my daughters, Rosalie and Alice." Rosalie had to be the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, vampire or alike. I studied her face, she smiled at me, and I immediately liked this girl. She had uncomplicated emotions and her aura was clear enough to see pure happiness at the chance of another family member, which I found curious. She shouldn't have been that happy. And Alice, the pixie girl, laughed and waved, saying, "I'm going to like this girl, I think."

Weirdo.

Esme also added, "And Alice, Jasper, and Edward have special powers, but we'll talk about that another time. Tell us your story." I considered this, and then said, "I think it would be easier for me if you asked me specific questions," I smiled sheepishly. "Sometimes I have issues with my memory." The family considered this, and then they said:

"So, where were you born?" Alice asked, peering at me. "You don't look American."

"I'm not, really," I said, laughing out loud at the memories that flooded back from my human days. "I'm Greek. I was born 1954, to my parents Alexandra and Andros, who were both olive farmers. They were simplistic people, and being the only daughter, they wanted me to grow to learn that Greece, which had always been there home, would be perfect for me. But I wasn't happy. I wanted to go to America, where I learned there was a whole new revolution was going on. A cultural one, where women weren't objects and had feelings and thoughts and _mattered_. I wanted it, wanted to matter, so much. Actually, I think it was the thing I had always wanted. I was never the same as the other children in my village. While the other children were running around and being rowdy, I was always sitting under a shady tree, painting. My mother had originally named me Hélène, after my grandmother, but changed my name to Iris, in honor of the goddess, after seeing what I was painting. She was amazed at all the colors, so Rainbow was apparently an appropriate name to her." I laughed at the memory of my mother proclaiming me equal to the goddess herself. Thinking I had answered the question as fully as possible, I waited for the next round.

Edward seemed interested, which was a first, and said, "So who changed you?'

I looked at him with a sorrowful expression on my face. He seemed taken aback, and his eyes flicked to Jasper, hearing something. I turned to look at Jasper for the first time, and was shocked.

That face.

It was familiar as the back of my hand. He was there, at Woodstock '68. He was the mysterious boy who I held hands with, associating the coldness with the nighttime weather. He was the one who helped me on stage so that I could dance with the band. And he had been the one who I had fallen madly in love with.

I stared into the eyes of my attacker, the one who pounced on me and left me for dead, the one who I had been looking for all these years, so that I could have my revenge. And his love. Jasper looked back, ashamed, yet still curious, the flicker of his laughing eyes that I learned to love so well still alive.

"No!" Alice screamed.


	4. Shit Hits The Fan

**After taking nearly a three year break (sorry about that!), I'm ready to tackle this story again. Hopefully my writing has improved a little, so enjoy! And please leave a review! Grazie!**

"No!" Alice screamed. She jumped up, knocking over the expensive-looking coffee table in her haste. Startled, I looked around in confusion. Alice turned and looked at Jasper. "Woodstock?" she shrilly yelled, as Emmet winced and put his fingers in his ears. "You went to _Woodstock_!"

Edward simply sat there with his mouth open, the smug look wiped off of his face. How could she have known? If Esme hadn't mentioned 'special powers', I wouldn't have been able to guess. Obviously Edward had some sort of mind reading ability, but how could he have told Alice, unless she was a mind reader too? This was all beginning to get out of hand.

Snapping back into reality, I realized that Alice was turning a violent shade of white, if vampires could even get paler than we already are. Jasper's face had turned to stone. Everyone else just looked bewildered.

"You told me you were going to New York to settle a business deal," she seethed, looking very dangerous, and very venomous. "What the hell happened with that, Jasper?" Sighing, Jasper looked at me painfully. The flutter in my heart kicked up. I stupidly tried to cover it up with my hands, drawing the attention of everyone in the room to, regrettably, me.

"Did your heart just beat?" breathed Carlisle, the doctor. He leaned forward on the couch toward me, eyes glimmering with curiosity. At these words, everyone froze. I glanced around, taking in the expressions of seven very confused vampires and one exceedingly docile human. My eye locked onto Jasper's as his expression transformed from shameful to fascinated.

"Only for him," I breathed, and clamped my hand over my mouth. Alice's shocked face was like a spotlight shining on my embarrassment. As her eyes narrowed at me, she crouched and spat out violent hisses. I crinkled my brow and looked at her as if to say 'Really?'

Now, I'm not a violent person, but when someone tells you to 'dream on, bitch' and launches herself across the room in pure attack mode, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Thank God I ran track as a human, and thank God that I'm a pretty good shot. Otherwise, it would have been me that smashed through an entire wall of glass and ran screaming in fury into the woods. As we all stared at Alice streak into the woods and lose her mind tearing down small birches and breaking boulders in her path, Emmet walked over to the shards of glass that lay scattered on the ground. As he picked one up and crumbled it to dust in his hand, he summed up the situation the best way anyone could: "Well, shit."

Immediately, Jasper chuckled. As I glanced his way, he shrugged his shoulders, and tucked his hair behind his ear. At this familiar gesture, I began to giggle. Soon, Rosalie and Emmet joined in, and we were all tickled. I hadn't forgot about ripping Jasper's head off his shoulders, but this situation was so absurd that there was nothing else to do but laugh. And so we four fools just popped a squat on the glossy hardwood floor and laughed until we could have cried. If it were possible for us to cry, that is. Edward mumbled something about 'dangerous conditions' and yanked Bella to her feet. The poor girl didn't get one word in around him. As she exited the room, I waved at her bewildered expression and said, "Nice to meet you!" This set off a fresh round of laughter from the other three on the floor.

Esme, however, was not pleased. "Look at what she did to the wall! Carlisle, I just got this replaced last week. And honey," she said, pointing down at me, "you have a lot of explaining to do." At this, I sobered up fast. I stopped laughing, and got up carefully. Carlisle gently grabbed my elbow and led me to what appeared to be a dining room table with enough room for a party of twenty. Everyone else filed in after me and sat down around me. Jasper sat across from me, and refused to meet my gaze. Even now I couldn't help but get flutters in my heart, which everyone in the room heard. Taking the head of the table, Carlisle sat down and leveled his gaze at me.

"Let's start at the beginning," he said, and sighed, running his hand through his golden blond hair. "What _are _you?"

**Short chapter, I know, but the next one explains everything! Leave a review if you like!**


	5. 99 Problems

"If you're going to stay with us, we need to need the whole truth. We have to make sure that we can trust you," Carlisle says, emphasizing the importance of this with his leveled gaze. The last thing I want is another group of vampires after me. "For one thing," he continues, reaching behind him to grab a notebook and a pen off of the sideboard, "you do not look fifteen to me. And trust me; I've seen many fifteen year olds in my time."

God, this is so embarrassing. I sigh, and fiddle with my hands. "Ask away, doc," I say, and at the word 'doc', he smiles. I like it when I can make people smile, and I feel a bit better about lying to them.

"How old are you, really?"

"Eighteen. I lie to people and tell them I'm fifteen so I can gain their pity. No one wants to help an eighteen year old out, since we're 'adults' and all." I use air quotes for 'adult' which makes Rosalie grin. I smile back at her, and decide to gain her trust first. She seems like a powerful ally to have in this family.

"I can understand that," Carlisle says, and scribbles down something in his notebook. I figure he is taking notes. "Do you have any special powers?"

"Yes!" I say, eager to talk about something a little less shameful. "I can read auras. Not like, 'Oh, your spirit color is laaaaaavender' sort of crap, but personalities. I can reflect emotions too." At this, I see Jasper stiffen. No doubt he is thinking of the way I made him panic earlier. Carlisle's eyes widen. "We've never encountered that before. It's very rare, actually unheard of. Can you tell me something about my personality?" I can tell he is genuinely interested in me. Chalk it up to scientific curiosity. I close my eyes and let my senses focus on him alone.

"You love art," I say after a few seconds. "In fact, you're an art collector, aren't you? You've been around for a very long time, watched a couple of people working in their studios… Bernini!" I shout, and everyone looks at me with dumbstruck expressions. Nobody knows what the hell I'm talking about, except for Carlisle. He is struck silent. I look at him excitedly. "You collect Bernini works! I _love _Bernini!"

Nobody says anything. It's clear I've made an impact. Carlisle shuts his gaping mouth and slowly says, "Yes, I do enjoy Bernini. Very much." Esme laughs and grips his hand. "I think we have a keeper," she trills, and looks at me lovingly. My heart leaps into my throat as the possibility of me staying, of them _wanting _me to stay, becomes a near reality. "How do you do that?" he asks, and I laugh. "How do you think?" I reply. "It just comes naturally as smiling." At these words, I catch Jasper grinning to himself across the table. I almost smile back at him before remembering that I wanted to slay him earlier. We look at each other, no one saying anything, just memorizing each feature as if we will never see each other again. We might not.

"Anyway," Carlisle continues, and I am drawn back into the present. "What about your diet?"

At first I look at him like he's asking me if the sky is blue. "Obviously, I drink blood. Like all vampires." And then I stop myself. Because vampires who drink blood always have red eyes, but there are no red eyes to be found around this table. "You guys are vampires, right?" This elicits chuckles from all sides. Carlisle's eyes sparkles when he laughs and I find myself trusting him. "We chose to drink the blood of animals, dear. It helps us blend in with the humans in the town." I honestly can't believe this. "You actually interact with the humans?" I question. How do you even do that without eating them? Esme nods. "We try to live as normal a life as we can, and Carlisle works at the hospital in town. All of our 'children' to the local high school, and play through the charade until it's time to move towns." I nod, and see how that could work. The self-control of this family must be enormous.

"Moving on: your heart beats. Why? How?" Now the mad scientist is reemerging from Carlisle, who spreads his hands on the table. I glance down at my hands, and weave my fingers together. This is the question that I really wanted to avoid. If I could blush, my face would have been cherry red. I can only answer this question in part without telling the whole story of how I met Jasper. I sigh, and look at Carlisle. "When I was changed," my eyes glance over at Jasper involuntarily, and he guiltily stares down at his reflection in the polished tabletop, "the venom didn't spread all of the way to my heart." Jasper's head snaps back up, and looks at me torturously.

"You didn't die?" I hear Carlisle ask, but I'm not at the table anymore. I'm in the mud at night, behind a van that I had dragged myself behind, trying to stifle my cries of pain, painfully hot pain, hot as fire in my veins, huddled into the fetal position. My tears streamed down my face, falling into the mud that had accumulated through the frequent rains. A heroin needle lays two feet from my face, and I briefly ponder how I could use it to kill myself. It's day four of the pain, and I try to keep myself from going insane by not thinking about the boy I had fallen in love with attacking me to the point of death. And why he left me here to die. I feel the familiar twinge of heartbreak in my stomach and I am pulled back to the present by the sharp sound of a crack on the table. Jasper had slammed his fist down on Esme's beautiful dining room table and snapped it clear in half. His face is both stormy and pained. I forgot he could feel my emotions. As he looks at me, I can see the tears that will never fall welling up in his eyes. I freeze because I don't know what to do. I try to speak, but all that comes out is strangled by the frog in my throat. "Why didn't you just kill me?" I say, a small tear escaping out of my eye. I am briefly impressed by this. It takes a lot of emotion to bypass the thin layer of venom in my eyes.

"I thought I did," he says, and this breaks my walls down completely. Everything I had assumed about this boy, this man, was wrong. I had deluded myself into thinking that he didn't mean it over the years, and how I would make him suffer for his accident. I wanted to teach him a lesson, and have him beg for me to forgive him and take him back. I realized that I never knew him at all. I feel a bubbling inside that sends of panicked warnings to my brain to _calm down!_, but through my fury I can't stop myself. I snap my head up and kick my chair out from behind me. I hear it hit the wall and break, and the sound is strangely satisfying. In two seconds I have Jasper pinned at the neck against the wall. He's a strong guy, and he could definitely take me out with one punch, but he doesn't fight me as I keep him in my chokehold. Instead of screaming, I look him dead in the eye, and lean in as if to kiss him. It's tempting, even through my fury, but as I bring my lips closer to his, I see his eyes cloud over with some strange emotion that I don't know how to read. I inhale slowly, and whisper across his lips, "I wish you had."

I immediately release him, and he slides to the floor, looking up at me with shock. I stand there, fists clenched, and stare down at him. Two more tears slide down my cheeks and land on his hand. I turn towards Carlisle and the family, who are all standing back and watching me like I'm a ticking time bomb, which I suppose I am. I wipe my face and stare at Carlisle mournfully. "I'm sorry Carlisle, I don't think I could be a part of your family," I say, and I hear Jasper groan behind me. Esme reaches out to me, but I back away slowly. This sign of distrust makes her face crumble into a frown, and Rosalie crosses her arms and glares daggers at Jasper, who is still sitting on the floor behind me. I sigh and walk out of their house calmly, before collapsing into a wailing heap on their front porch. The pain is too much, and I feel my breaths becoming shallow as I begin to hyperventilate, and I know what's coming. I black out when I am overwhelmed, and as the darkness begins to creep over my vision, I feel cool, gentle hands pick me up and cradle me to their chest. Esme's motherly voice is the last thing that registers as she coos, "It's okay, you're safe with me." But I will never be safe as long as my killer is around. I am dragged under by the pain that comes with the realization.


End file.
